The Devil's Cage

“How much?”

Kieran covered his chest. He asked again as if he didn’t hear what Rachel said.

“300K Points, friendly price,” Rachel emphasized.

Huuhaa! Huuhaa!

Kieran’s breath was hurried by the given price.

Although before this, Kieran already expected that information regarding Gods wouldn’t be cheap, he never thought it would be this expensive.

300K Points.

Kieran did spend that amount and even higher before in the past, but he never thought a single piece of information could cost that much.

“Can’t it be a little cheaper?”

Kieran tried to negotiate since his heart was really hurting.

“I said it’s already a friendly price. If you don’t have that many Points, you can keep a tab here or…”

“Or what?”

Kieran tried to play along and ask since Rachel purposely prolonged her sentence.

“Or you can consider having dinner with Wu, she…”

“210K points plus 30 Skill Points, please accept.”

Before Rachel even finish, Kieran initiated a trade right away.

He wasn’t against the idea of having dinner. From a certain angle, the one thing that he liked most was eating but… The problem was with whom.

If he was having dinner with friends, a rough meal would taste delicious as well but dinner with the likes of Wu, Kieran had a hunch the dinner would taste like candle wax instead.

From Kieran’s point of view, if he couldn’t properly taste the food that he was eating, it was an insult to the food itself.

On top of that, Kieran had a strange feeling about Wu.

Based on the relationship of Rachel and Wu, Kieran couldn’t handle Wu with common means, so Kieran had made up his mind to avoid her if possible.

“Wu doesn’t mean any harm,” Rachel explained.

Kieran didn’t answer.

Even if Wu didn’t mean any harm, Kieran didn’t plan to alter his decision.

Rachel sighed in her heart before signaling Kieran.

“Follow me.”

Rachel then headed towards the small living room behind the bar counter.

Once again, Kieran went through the familiar corridor and after that, Kieran picked a sofa at the rounded table and sat down as if it was his own place.

Rachel sat across from him and served him a lemon ice tea before speaking.

“Gods that merged with a city aren’t technically real Gods but considering the prosperity that the God granted to the city, that particular God might be stronger than a real one.”

“Since now you have entered the higher order, have you encountered rank I?”

“Well, it is exactly what you think. When you reached rank I, it doesn’t just mean transcending over the normal mortals, it also means that you are getting closer to Gods.”

Rachel continued before Kieran even gave an answer.

“Getting closer to Gods? How far away exactly?” Kieran asked the one thing that he wanted to know most.

“Like heaven and earth apart I guess. Based on the data that others accumulated, a high-ranker is approximately equal to a fifth generation divine descendant, slightly higher than the sixth generation and later descendants. Other than that, divine descendants vary depending on their own bloodline. Later descendants after the sixth generation of a True God can also achieve transcendence and the descendants of the same generation of a False God are only slightly stronger than a common man.”

“So if you somehow came across divine descendants in the dungeon world, make sure you know who’s descendant they are and don’t be concerned about whether his grandfather or ancestors were once human,” Rachel reminded Kieran.

“True Gods and False Gods?” Kieran continued his questions.

“True Gods are able to ignite divine flames, possess divinity, and have the authority to build divine kingdoms.”

“False Gods have no divine flames yet possess divinity. They live off of the beliefs of most of the intelligent beings on the land.”

“The former’s strength is unimaginable, at least based on what I know, no one has truly come in contact with a True God, except… the Witch!”

Rachel was a bit stunned whenever the name was mentioned.

Almost out of instinct, she shifted the topic. “Based on what you mentioned, the Gods you came across are all False Gods and should be very low in ranks. They shouldn’t exceed the first generation divine descendants or might be even lower.”

“Why?”

Kieran was quite curious about Rachel’s certainty of the matter.

“Because you don’t have the aura that exceeds a first generation divine descendant! Starting from the fifth generation, it is the beginning of the higher order. Each time the rank increased, it is very obvious and when one reaches the level of the second generation, it is equal to rank IV in game terms.”

Rachel took another sip of her glass before emphasizing each and every word.

“Not the first generation, rank V?”

Kieran asked out loud but his heart had other speculations.

Right after the question, Rachel verified his speculations.

“You really think you can achieve rank V smoothly? You wouldn’t think the Character Template Limit is just a one-time-thing right? Besides, unlike the first Character Template Limit, where the system will provide you with a Limit Break dungeon, each time you reach the limit after that, you can only rely on your Golden Skill Points and Attribute Points. Especially when you want to reach rank V, you really have to do all the work yourself, because Golden Attribute Points and Skill Points are all useless then.”

Rachel was sighing with a little distress after she spoke.

Seemed like Rachel was stressing over this matter.

Kieran, however, didn’t voice his opinions nor will he ask whether Rachel was stuck before rank V.

He wasn’t a newbie anymore, thus the lack of recklessness. Even if he still was, given his character and personality, he would remain quiet.

He knew everyone had their own secrets. Such secrets might not be divulged in front of their closest of kin, let alone a half-familiar friend.

Therefore, Kieran chose to respect the secret but Rachel somehow looked a little bit dissatisfied.

“I thought were friends,” Rachel glared at Kieran.

“I guess so,” Kieran nodded.

“Well, shouldn’t you show some comfort at this kind of timing?” Rachel asked.

“A powerhouse that seeks comfort from someone weaker?”

“Come on. Stop joking, it’s not funny,” Kieran shrugged.

Kieran had been guessing Rachel’s power level for a long time but he missed it by a mile every time he made an educated guess.

Each time, Rachel would display her strength in a suitable way, where she handled everything skillfully and with ease but one thing was for sure.

Considering all attributes, skill levels and equipment, Rachel’s battle power must be higher than Kieran.

As for how much? Kieran couldn’t speculate further.

It was a meaningless thought and a complete waste of time.

If he had the time to speculate about useless things, might as well spend it in increasing his strength to chase up to Rachel.

“You really don’t have any humor at all.”

“Based on your description of that native, I guess he should be around rank IV, which mean a second generation divine descendant but if a real battle breaks out, the changing variables are all up in the air, its very hard to tell but I can tell you one thing, don’t ever engage him in his own city, you will die a graveless death!”

“After all, you…”

Rachel said in an upset tone at first before getting serious all of a sudden.

She wanted to continue her sentence but whether out of habit or necessity, the last part was held at the very last moment.

Under Kieran’s probing gaze, Rachel stood up as if nothing happened and turned back to the bar counter.

Kieran frowned as he saw Rachel off.